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Nigerian regulator compares Bitcoin to gambling

26 January 2018 00:00, UTC

The governor of Central Bank of Nigeria recently expressed his views on Bitcoin. As Godwin Emefiele believes, investing in cryptocurrency is similar to gambling, and like in gambling, people should not act with the devil-may-care attitude. He also reminded that as a financial institution, the Central Bank can mediate and arbitrate situations with local and foreign fiat currencies, but Bitcoin is not produced by a central authority and in case investors lose money, the bank will not be able to help them.

Bitcoin is attractive for citizens of African countries, as sometimes it is much stable than their local currencies. In Zimbabwe, Bitcoin has surpassed $13,000 on the local exchanges after the coup led by the local military (which happened weeks before Bitcoin reached this record worldwide), and in other countries in the region, young people are interested in Bitcoin just like millennials of America and Europe.

Speaking of gambling, in the state of United Kingdom one can declare cryptocurrency revenue as the spoils of betting. This creates a large tax gap which at the press time still exists. Yesterday, Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, told that Bitcoin deserves serious regulative attention.